Visually Perceived Radiant Energy
by TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: After touching a mysterious artifact in the ruins of a Jedi Temple, Rey and Finn are sent back in time, Rey to Tatooine and Finn to Kamino. Poe is left behind, the only one who remembers the original present that existed before Rey and Finn started changing the past.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: ...as if I don't have enough WIPs.

Rey hadn't meant to touch the artifact. It had shone in the Force, bright and tempting. The part of her that would always be a scavenger automatically calculated that it would have been worth at least 50 portions back on Jakku, and so she had reached out to grab it without thinking.

The Force heaved, breaking apart and reforming around her only to shatter once more. Rey crumpled to her knees, her stomach rolling.

When the Force finally calmed down, she pushed herself back to her feet, clutching her staff for support.

Her surroundings had changed around her, no longer the crumbling ruins she had come from, but shining sand, as far as the eye could see. For one, heart-stopping moment, Rey thought she was back on Jakku, that she had never left. That every horrible and wonderful thing that had happened since BB-8 and Finn came into her life had been nothing more than a dream.

But no. Jakku didn't have two suns.

Also, she could feel the bond she had with Finn in the back of her head, bright and warm like always. The bond she shared with Poe was faded, more so than it had when they had been at opposite ends of the galaxy on various missions, but it was still there. The training bond she had with Master Luke was not, which was worrying. However, she had more pressing concerns than her bonds. Survival came first.

Rey sunk her awareness down into the Force, searching its currents for any sentient life forms in her vicinity.

At the edge of her reach, Rey felt a bright hive of minds. It was a city of some sort, and it was highly likely they had water.

After checking to make sure both her staff and her lightsaber were secured, Rey set out for the distant city.

0o0o0

Finn had no kriffing clue what was going on. One minute he was peacefully napping while he waited for Rey to finish her final sweep of the ruins, and the next the Force was in turmoil.

He had launched himself to his feet, his hand going to his lightsaber as he fell into a ready stance, but there was no one around.

He was in a hallway, with white walls and a white floor and closed doors at regular intervals. It felt sterile and unwelcoming. He could feel people moving around in hallways above and below him, along with thousands of tiny sparks to his left - very young children or babies.

Finn hadn't taken more than two steps before the Force warned him that someone was coming. He ducked into the nearest doorway, putting his back against the wall and quieting his breath.

Two tall, pale beings, with long necks topped with small, round heads, draped in flowing white clothing glided past his hiding place. Kaminoans. Finn recognized them from the History of the Corrupt Republic class all stormtroopers were forced to take. They had been the ones to create the clone army.

How had he gotten here? The ruins he and Rey had been exploring at Master Luke's request had been nowhere near Kamino.

He checked on the bonds he carried in the back of his mind. The one he shared with Rey was as strong as ever, while Poe's was weak, as if stretched by a great distance. Master Luke's training bond was completely gone, as if it had never existed.

0o0o0

Poe wasn't a Jedi; he couldn't use the Force. He had no way of knowing that Finn and Rey were missing until Master Skywalker came back from their mission alone.

It had been a simple exploration mission; nothing should have happened.

Poe already had three ideas on how he was going to rescue them - depending on who had taken Finn and Rey - when the General called him to her office.

"You asked to see me, General Organa," Poe said as he stepped into the room and stood at attention. He noted that Master Skywalker was standing behind the General's chair while he waited for her to acknowledge his presence.

"At ease, Commander. My brother," She gestured behind her. "Needs to speak with you."

Poe relaxed and nodded. "Of course, sir."

General Organa stood from her desk. "And Poe, Finn and Rey are bright people. They _will_ get home."

"Thank you, sir."

General Organa smiled, patted his shoulder, and left him to the mercies of Master Skywalker.

"As I'm sure you know, Finn and Rey went missing on Draay 2 while we were searching the ruins of a Jedi Temple for artifacts," Master Skywalker began.

"Yes, sir," Poe responded.

Master Skywalker sighed heavily. "Well, they found one. As far as I've been able to determine, this artifact sent them back in time."

Poe's eyebrows raised of their own accord. "Time travel?"

Master Skywalker nodded. "And the longer they spend in the past, the more changes there will be to the present. You will be the only one who will remember this present once it is gone."

Poe froze, his mind racing. Why was he going to be the only one to remember? Why not Master Skywalker, arguably the greatest Jedi ever to live, or General Organa? And then he realized.

"It's the bonds I have with them, isn't it?"

"The training bonds I share with my Padawans are too one-sided to spare me, whereas the bonds you share with them are a give and a take. You should have been pulled back with them; I'm not sure why you're still here," Master Skywalker said.

Poe was still processing the information, so all he said was "Thank you, sir. Excuse me," before he left the General's office.

A/N: Draay 2 is home to a Jedi Temple in the comics set during the Clone Wars. The comic it shows up in is amazing, everybody should read it.


	2. Chapter 2

The bright cluster of minds that Rey had felt earlier was not a city, but a camp of people completely covered in wrappings. She figured that she might have stumbled upon a group of scavengers, except she hadn't seen anything in the desert worth, well, anything. No shipwrecks, no corroded metal heaps, nothing.

The Force flared in warning, and Rey hit the sand just a few seconds before the people in the camp started shooting at her, more than a decade of scavenging instincts overriding her two years of training that would have had her deflecting the shots with her lightsaber. Slugthrowers, not blasters, from the sound of it.

Definitely not scavengers, then. The slugs would have long been traded away for food or other supplies if they were. In fact, most people didn't use slugthrowers because the metal could be used for something else, and tibanna gas was much cheaper to buy for a blaster. The only people that used them were either isolated communities with no way to access tibanna gas or bounty hunters who used slugthrowers as a signature weapon or were after Jedi. A lightsaber would melt a slug, not block it, so the Jedi would get splattered with molten metal. They weren't as effective as lightsabers or flamethrowers, but they were pretty painful, or so Master Luke had said.

Rey could try using her staff to deflect the slugs, but that ran the risk of shattering it, something she was loath to do unless there was no other option. Slugthrowers did run out of ammunition faster than blasters, so she could try waiting for them to run out of slugs. Still, they could have extras, so that might take a long time. Her best bet would be to dodge the slugs until she was out of range, although that still left the problem of being stuck in the desert.

One problem at a time. Rey could deal with being stuck in the desert once she wasn't being shot at.

Rey closed her eyes and breathed out, sinking down into the Force and trusting that it wouldn't fail her. It flowed through her limbs, strengthening them past the limits of human endurance, and into her mind, letting her feel where the slugs would fly and how best to get around them. Then, without wasting anymore time, Rey moved, ducking under and jumping over the paths of the slugs.

The people shooting at her shifted their aim once Rey stood up, but the Force showed her where the slugs would be and she moved accordingly. Slugs were much faster than blaster bolts, however, and Rey was only human. When a slug angrily whistled past her ear, brushing against her hair before disappearing into the distance, she flinched, her right arm dipping into the crosshairs of another slugthrower.

Her focus wavered for a second before she brought her arm back, but it was a second too long.

Another slug burrowed into the meat of her upper right arm, pain lancing outwards from the wound. Blood flowed from it in great gushes, indicating that the slug had hit an artery.

Rey hissed involuntarily at the pain before gritting her teeth and _pushing_ herself the last few yards to a hiding place, heedless of the shooters. Another slug nicked her lower calf - left side, this time - but she brushed that aside.

She had seen enough arterial wounds to know that she needed to get a tourniquet on as soon as possible, before she lost too much blood. It would be extremely awkward with just one hand and painful with the slug still in her arm, but she would have to make do.

The blood had already soaked the arm wrapping on her right hand and was beginning to drip onto the ground.

The pain from her wound made her fingers stiff and clumsy as she pulled her other arm wrapping off of her left arm and awkwardly tied it as tightly as possible just above the wound, using her teeth to tighten the knot. It was shoddy work, but it would hopefully keep until she got to safety.

Rey had doubts though. She was drawing on the Force just to keep her head from spinning, which was not a good sign. The sooner she was away from these shooters, the sooner she could put her basic healing skills to better use.

She could hear them drawing closer to her hiding place, hoping to ambush her, no doubt.

Rey listened to the Force, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, before she leapt to her feet, staff in hand, striking at the people who had threatened her. There were five of them, although she knocked out two of them with her strikes.

A surge of adrenaline and the Force kept her on her feet, but the pain from her wound made her fumble her grip on her staff when she went after the third person.

The barrel of a slugthrower slammed into her ribs, knocking her backwards and driving the air from her lungs. Rey would likely have a large bruise in an hour, but nothing was broken.

The two other people pressed their advantage, reigning a series of blows that Rey barely managed to block. They forced her to back up, and her grip on her staff slipped a second time.

Rey needed to end the fight. Now.

She struck out at both of her attackers with one end of her staff, shoving them with the Force. They flew away from her, landing with a thump on the sand some distance away.

Rey paused for a moment, using her staff to keep herself upright, before she realized that she had forgotten something vital.

There was still one more attacker that she hadn't dealt with.

Rey turned around, searching for the last shooter, only to be met with the stock of a slugthrower to her face. She reeled back, stars dancing at the edge of her vision.

The blow to the head combined with the continued blood loss were too much; Rey sank to her hands and knees, her ears ringing, before collapsing to the sand, unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Finn moved as soon as the Kaminoans were out of sight, using the Force to make sure he stayed hidden. He wasn't sure what he would do if he was found. Bluff, maybe, or try to negotiate for a ship back to the Resistance.

If the Kaminoans turned hostile, though, he was fairly confident that they wouldn't be able to hold him. Stormtrooper training had taught him how to take out a variety of species, and Kaminoans were far more brains than brawn. He wouldn't need much strength to kill one of them. However, his own conscience wouldn't let him kill unless he had no other option. He wasn't as good at mind tricks or deducing truths with the Force as Rey was, but he was much better at sensing things happening elsewhere, something he could use to his advantage.

Finn and Rey also had slightly different ways of adapting to the freedoms that the Resistance had given them. Rey had taken to the surplus of food with a gusto, learning how to cook in her spare time. Her dishes were usually full of spices and flavor. Finn, ot the other hand, had loved the freedom to wear whatever he wanted when he wasn't on duty. He has found himself gravitating towards rich colors like purple, blue, green, or red. He rarely wore black or white now.

It was these bright colors, blue and green today, that gave him away in the end. They stood out too much against the endless white of Kamino.

The Kaminoan who had spotted him froze, only relaxing when she saw the lightsaber at Finn's hip.

"Master Jedi, your presence here is most," she paused delicately. "Unexpected."

"I merely go where the Force directs me," Finn said, using one of Master Luke's favorite phrases.

"Of course," the Kaminoan replied, doing a good job of masking its confusion. "Let me be the first to welcome you to Kamino. I am Mana Te, one of the medical doctors. May I escort you to your meeting with the Prime Minister? He has been expecting you for some time."

Finn couldn't help but wonder how the Prime Minister had known to expect him when he hadn't even known he'd be heading to Kamino. Still, if he could get into the good graces of the Prime Minister then it would be easier than he thought to arrange for passage back to the Resistance. On the other hand, it might be a trap. However, he hadn't heard about Kamino joining the First Order, so he thought the risk was worth it.

He nodded, suppressing his nerves that might make him start babbling. "Lead the way."

His chant of 'stay calm' was completely in his head, unlike when he'd freed Poe from the First Order. Finn was a Jedi now - albeit a Padawan - and he knew the Force was his ally. As long as he reminded himself of that, he'd be able to keep his panic at bay.

Besides, he might be in unfamiliar territory, but this was not the First Order, even if it was a trap.

Finn kept careful track of the many twists and turns that Mana Te lead him down, building a map of the halls in his head. It was only slightly useful without any landmarks, but Finn had experience navigating monotone hallways without landmarks from serving on a Star Destroyer.

"May I present Lama Su, Prime Minister of Kamino," Mana Te said after she opened a door, revealing a Kaminoan sitting in a chair that hung from the ceiling.

Lama Su smiled and pushed himself to his feet.

"And this is Master Jedi…" Mana Te paused, looking at Finn.

"Finn Dameron," Finn said.

"Please, be seated," Lama Su said, gesturing to another chair. "I trust you are going to enjoy your stay. We are most happy, you have arrived at the best part of the season."

Finn smiled politely as he sat down. "I'm sure I will."

"And now to business," Lama Su said. "You will be delighted to hear that we are on schedule. Two hundred thousand units are ready, with another million on the way."

Finn was barely able to keep his pleasant smile from slipping. Units? What did Lama Su mean by that? The only thing the Kaminoans exported was cloned goods. Had the Resistance ordered a huge number of cloned organs for medical purposes and told the Kaminoans that a Jedi would pick them up? It didn't seem like something General Organa would do. And surely no one would be foolish enough to order _another_ clone army, not after how the last one had turned out.

The First Order had praised the clone army for its extreme efficiency and talent during history lessons, but it had also taught that the clones were inferior, little better than droids, simply because they were decanted rather than born. After he had left, Finn had done a little research of his own, and the small bits of information he'd found had indicated that they were intensely loyal but also highly individual before they'd been forced to betray the Jedi.

"That does sound delightful," Finn managed to say.

"Please tell your Master Sifo-Dyas that we have every confidence his order will be met on time and in full. He is well, I hope?" Lama Su asked pleasantly.

"I'm sorry, but I've never heard of Master Sifo-Dyas," Finn said.

Lama Su frowned. "He is no longer a leading member of the Jedi Council?"

Finn blinked. A _Jedi_ had ordered something from the Kaminoans? And who had told the Kaminoans that the Jedi had a Council? Something was not right here.

Finn widened his eyes a little, as if he had remembered something, and said "Oh yes, _that_ Sifo-Dyas. Of course."

Lama Su stood. "You must be anxious to inspect the units for yourself."

Finn resisted the urge to swallow, his mouth dry. "Absolutely."

0o0o0

The heavy rain lashed at the windows and walls of the facility, creating a rapid drumming that was echoed by Finn's accelerating heartbeat as he stared down at the clone army.

Lama Su gazed at the clones appreciatively. "Magnificent, aren't they?"

Finn nodded slowly, clenching his jaw to keep himself from speaking. He knew that if he opened his mouth he would demand to know who had thought that another clone army was a good idea, something that would likely anger his hosts.

Lama Su guided Finn down into the commissary, explaining about the modifications made to the clones genetic structure. Finn listened in horrified silence while he looked at the men who were being forced into an army. He vowed to himself that, if he could, he would get as many of them out of here as possible. No one should be forced to fight a war if they didn't want to, if they didn't believe in the cause.

As they walked, Finn began to feel a niggling sense of familiarity, as if he had seen their faces before. Maybe he knew the donor.

"Who was the gene donor?" he asked.

"A bounty hunter called Jango Fett."

Finn frowned. Hadn't Jango Fett been the donor for the first clone army?

"We felt a Jedi would be the perfect choice," Lama Su continued. "But Sifo-Dyas hand-picked Jango Fett himself."

Lama Su was speaking as if Jango Fett was still alive, but that was impossible.

Unless…

No. That would be even more impossible than a bounty hunter coming back from the dead to create another clone army.

"Could I meet this bounty hunter now?" Finn asked.

"I'm afraid he isn't here right now. I will arrange a meeting for you when he returns," Lama Su said. "Would you like to examine some of the younger units now?"

Finn smiled tightly, suppressing the urge to vomit or flee at the thought of child soldiers, a phenomenon he would have considered normal until he left the First Order. "Of course."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Did you guys think I was just gonna leave Poe alone? Hahaha, not likely! There's so much AU fun to be had with him after all...

Poe felt a little bit like he was going to be executed after he learned that Finn and Rey were stuck in another time period and that time itself was in flux. Except, to continue the execution metaphor, he was the only one who knew about the execution, and it was everyone else who was going to die, leaving him the sole survivor. So it was really more like a genocide or an apocalypse than an execution, but regardless, it was a terrible feeling.

He didn't know how much time he had before the world changed around him, so Poe said goodbye to each member of his squad, then loaded BB-8 into his X-wing for a trip to Yavin IV. He wanted to make sure he spent time with his father before it was too late.

The trip to Yavin IV felt like it took much longer than it did. Poe kept running through various scenarios in his mind, each more terrifying than the last.

Still, none of it could prepare him for what he saw when he finally dropped out of hyperspace. Or, rather, what he didn't see.

Yavin IV was gone.

The gas giant of Yavin had three moons and rings now.

Poe's comm beeped, alerting him that he had messages, but he ignored them in favor of staring at the empty space where his homeworld should have been.

He had failed. Time had already shifted around him.

Judging by the fact that Yavin IV was gone, Poe was in a very different galaxy than the one he had left. He had no idea if his family was still alive or who his allies were, although he hoped they were the same people he had left behind, he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, what the current political situation in the galaxy was, or anything about this new galaxy other than Yavin IV had been destroyed.

Poe could feel panic starting to bubble up inside of him, but he grit his teeth and refused to let it get any further. He had survived bad situations before; he would make it out of this.

He ignored the problem created by his lack of knowledge and allies for the moment and checked on the status of his ship.

He was still in the X-wing, the same one he had left D'qar in, as far as he could tell, and if it was a different ship he _would_ have been able to tell. Nothing was wrong with it, he had enough fuel to make it back to the Resistance, and the astromech he'd taken with him was still BB-8.

Poe let out a slow breath of relief. Now to make a plan.

The first thing he needed to do was collect information about this new galaxy.

Poe turned on his comm and played back the first message.

"Black Leader, this is Home Base. We've picked up your signal in the Yavin system."

Poe sighed and leaned back in his seat. If he was still Black Leader, than he could presume that he was still with the Resistance, still fighting against the imperialistic First Order. That was good.

He switched it over to the other message, the one that had arrived only a few moments before Poe had left hyperspace.

"Black Leader, this is Home Base. We've received word that an Imperial patrol is about to go through the Yavin system. Please respond."

Poe's blood froze. _Imperial?_ The _Empire_ was still around? What had Finn and Rey done in the past?

He stirred himself into action a second later, responding to Home Base's messages. "Home Base, this is Black Leader. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be back soon."

He turned off his comm and prepared to jump to hyperspace, remembering at the last moment that he didn't have the coordinates to Home Base.

"Hey, buddy, can you plot our course to Home Base?" he asked BB-8.

The astromech beeped an affirmative.

Three seconds later the coordinates were in, and Imperial ships were being detected by his scanners.

Poe didn't waste another moment before jumping out of the system, only noticing that the coordinates were for D'Qar after they were in hyperspace.

0o0o0

There was a lot of time for Poe to think in hyperspace, especially since his only other option was sleep, which he wanted to avoid for a little while longer.

He had noticed that time had shifted around him the last time he had jumped into hyperspace, so there was a part of him that was hoping that the galaxy would go back to normal when he reached D'Qar.

He also spent time wondering how the Empire was still around, more than thirty years after it was supposed to be destroyed. It had been brought down last time because of Luke Skywalker, so was it possible that Finn and Rey had done something to erase him from existence?

Kriff, Poe hoped not.

By the time he left hyperspace, Poe was no closer to guessing how the Empire hadn't fallen, but he did have a tentative plan of action, which was of course completely derailed as soon as he touched down in the hangar.

Jess was the first one to greet him when he climbed out of his ship.

"What the hell were you doing in the Yavin system, Dameron?" she asked, staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

Poe shrugged. "I just had a feeling that I needed to go there, that's all."

She snorted. "Whatever Poe. The General wants to see you, by the way."

Some of the tension that Poe had picked up when he'd learned the about the Empire drained away. General Organa was still alive. That meant Luke Skywalker probably was too.

"Let me just put my stuff away," he said.

Jess smiled. "Alright. I'll see you around."

She left while Poe did all of the necessary post-flight checks to his X-wing, only stalling a little about going to meet a different version of General Organa.

It couldn't be that bad though, he reasoned. After all, Jess didn't seem any different than the one he knew in the original timeline.

With slightly less reluctance than before, Poe left the hangar and headed for the General's office.

"You wanted to see me, General," Poe said as he stepped into the General's office and froze.

General Calrissian looked up from the reports he was analyzing and smiled. "Good to see you, Commander. Hope you didn't run into any of Vader's troops while you were in the Yavin system."

"Vader?" Poe asked, feeling as if he could no longer be surprised by anything if that monster was still alive. Truly, anything was possible.

General Calrissian raised one eyebrow. "Yes, Vader, our illustrious Emperor, ruler of the known galaxy. Why do you know some other Vader?"

Poe shook his head. _Vader_ was the _Emperor_? "Sorry, General, I'm just feeling a little out of it."

The General's face softened. "Of course, of course. Well, I was going to send you right back out on a scouting mission, but I think it can wait for a few hours. Go take a nap. That's an order."

Poe smiled briefly. "Yes sir."

General Calrissian turned back to his paperwork as Poe left his office. Poe only had one thought on his mind: he hoped that his sleeping quarters were in the same place they'd been in the last time line.


	5. Chapter 5

Rey clawed her way back to consciousness with some difficulty. She hurt everywhere, although the worst of it came from her right arm. For a moment, she couldn't remember why her arm would be hurting so badly. Hadn't she just been exploring ruins with Finn and Master Luke? Then everything came pouring back in, and her eyes flew open. She looked around, moving only her eyes so as not to alert her captors that she was awake, taking in as much of her surroundings as she could.

She was lying on the ground in a tent that was appeared to be made out of some sort of animal hide, her hands bound in front of her and one of her legs tied to something. The only source of light came from the door flap, and the flickering of the light along with the scent of smoke indicated that it came from a fire. There was nothing to cover up the sandy ground, to prevent the sand from seeping through her clothing. Rey hoped that none of it had caught in her wounds, otherwise it would be difficult to clean them once she escaped. The chilly ground eagerly stole her body heat, meaning that night had already fallen. Desert planets nearly froze when the sun, or suns in this case, set.

There was someone else in the tent with her, a Human if their hair was any indication, and, judging by the slight hitch in their breathing, they were wounded. Unless the wrapped people kept their prisoners in the same place as their sick and injured, Rey thought it likely that the other person was in the same situation as she. They might even know more about their captors and their odds of escape than Rey would be able to glean from the Force.

Still, before Rey put any trust in the other person's information, she had to see what she could discover using the Force. She closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to sink down into its currents. It flowed through her body first, highlighting her various injuries and focusing on the slug still buried in her upper right arm, before she directed it to block out the pain. Rey lowered her shields slightly and let her senses flow outward, seeking out the eddies created by the minds of sentients.

She was unable to hold back a gasp as she was buffeted by the emotions of every being around her. The person next to her was frightened, weary, and concerned. The vast majority of the people that Rey could detect in the immediate area were smug and happy for the most part, almost celebratory.

Rey didn't want to think about what that might mean for her, and she wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out.

Her first priority was escape, with or without the other person, and then Rey was going after her lightsaber and staff. Kyber crystals were difficult to come by, after all, and her 'saber had two of them.

She didn't want to further aggravate her right arm, especially since it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. Therefore, instead of pushing herself up with her hands to work herself free, Rey rolled over onto her back then used her abdominal muscles to pull herself into a sitting position, long hours of doing upside down sit-ups under Master Luke's direction coming in handy. Her head throbbed for a moment, but she was still deep enough in the Force that the hurt was quickly soothed away.

The other person in the tent startled at Rey's sudden movement, but she paid them no mind beyond a cursory glance to make sure they weren't about to attack.

A rope was looped around her left ankle, securing her to a wooden cross stuck in the dirt near the back of the tent. A shiver ran down her spine as she tried not to think about _why_ her captors might have such a contraption set up. She knew that she could wrench it from the ground with the Force strengthening her limbs, but that would require _touching_ it. Her psychometry would make her feel and see some of had happened to other people who'd touched it as long as her shields were down. In order to keep her psychometry from activating, Rey would have to almost completely block out her sense of the Force, leaving only her bonds with Finn and Poe intact. She would have no warning if anyone wanted to attack, unless…

Rey turned to the other person. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," they whispered.

"Do you want to get out of here?" she asked.

"More than anything."

"Alright. Warn me if anyone comes in while I get us free," Rey said.

The person sat up, facing the door flap. Rey thought they might be a woman because of the long hair, but she didn't want to make any judgements.

She closed her eyes and blocked out all outside sensations, turning her focus inward to build her shields back up.

Master Luke had taught her to build her shields based on what she was most familiar with so that she could easily hide her mind within them, but it also had to feel safe so that her shields would be stand up to attack. Rey had chosen the deserts of Jakku because, while they weren't safe by most being's reckoning, she knew them well enough to safely navigate them. She used the heat and the sand to boil away any external feelings, especially those she picked up from objects. Some things tended to get stuck, but all it took was the occasional sandstorm of her own emotions to blow them away. The wreckages that could be found in her mind were traps for the unwary who might attempt to breach her shields as Kylo Ren had. The manifestation of Niima Outpost was a decoy. Rey tucked her mind away in the only place she knew was completely safe: an AT-AT that had been turned into a home many years ago. It was, of course, capable of returning to a fully functioning weapon if she felt threatened.

Rey had spent many weeks of meditation building her shields initially and then learning to take them down. After years of practice, though, it only took her a few moments to bring them back up. They weren't the best she could make them, but they were enough to keep her psychometry from activating when she touched the wooden cross.

She stood up and then yanked it from the ground, ignoring the flares of pain from her right arm and her left leg. She checked to make sure the other person was still watching the door, then broke it over her leg with a quiet grunt of effort.

They both froze, waiting for a sign that one of their captors had heard. Nothing happened.

"What's your name?" Rey asked as she worked at the rope around her hands.

"I'm Shmi Skywalker. And you?"

"Rey Dameron," she said, flexing her left hand to get the blood flowing back into it. Once she and Shmi were free, she would have to try and heal her wounds, especially her right arm. Even the simplest of things would be nigh on impossible with a tourniquet.

Wait.

"Skywalker? As in Luke Skywalker?"

"I've never heard of him," Shmi admitted, while Rey fumbled with her bindings. "Although it's possible. I lost track of the rest of my family a while back."

It was a little strange that Shmi had never heard of Master Luke, but then Rey hadn't thought him any more than a myth until Finn had crashed into her life.

"Alright then, we just need to get my weapons and then we can get out of here," Rey said. "Do you know where we can go once we're out of the camp?"

Shmi nodded. "My husband and his family own a moisture farm a few miles out. I can get us there. We shouldn't go for your weapons though; there's too great of a risk of being caught by the Tuskens."

"I don't want to leave my lightsaber in their hands." Rey grimaced at the thought. Master Luke had made sure that both she and Finn knew the importance of keeping unsavory people from getting their hands on lightsabers. She had no idea if these Tuskens were good or bad, but she was going to err on the side of caution since they'd attacked her without provocation.

"You're a Jedi," Shmi gasped.

"Almost. Stay here. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, then go home," Rey said.

It didn't take long for Rey to retrieve her staff and lightsaber. She could hear her kyber crystals singing from the tent right next to theirs, and the Tuskens had not thought to put a guard up. They were too caught up in their celebration and too sure of the security of the bindings to bother.

If Rey had been a little more prone to giving into her anger and letting the Dark in, it would have been their downfall.

Instead she strapped her lightsaber to her back, picked up her staff, and returned to fetch Shmi. Together, arms wrapped around each other for support, they limped out into the chilly darkness of the desert.


	6. Chapter 6

The Kaminoans had not allowed Finn to actually speak with any of the younger clones, claiming that even the slightest disruption in their lessons would lower the quality of the product. FInn had wanted to puff up with righteous anger and scream at them for their treatment of the sentients under their care, even though he knew it would be pointless. Instead, he resolved to sneak away and talk to one of the older clones as soon as possible and let them know that he would get them off Kamino if they wanted.

Of course, _he_ still needed a way off Kamino, but Finn was confident he could probably bluff the Kaminoans out of a ship if he got desperate.

Unfortunately for his plans, Finn wasn't left alone until well into the night cycle, when even the Kaminoans were too tired to remain awake for long, and the clones were likely all abed. However, he had two advantages that made it relatively easy to stay awake: stormtrooper training and the Force. Troopers had been trained to stay awake over long periods of time, and the training program used had been modeled after the clone troopers.

At least, that was what the First Order claimed. Their propaganda machine had tried really hard to erase what the clone troopers had really been like, following in the footsteps of the Empire. Apparently they didn't want the stormtroopers to know how individual each of the clones had really been.

Finn had never met the trooper that had been cryogenically frozen, Kicks or something like that, but he had heard enough about him to know that everything the First Order was spewing was complete bantha shit.

His bond with Rey dimmed to a quiet hum, usually an indication that she had pulled up her shields. Something was going on with her, and Finn didn't have to be a Jedi to know that it probably wasn't good. He needed to get going, to find her and figure out if she knew how they had gotten stuck in the past.

Still, he had to speak with the clone troopers before he figured out a way off Kamino, see how open they might be to receiving outside assistance in escaping their forced military service.

The Force revealed that there weren't any of Finn's Kaminoan keepers guarding his door when he checked, and the only other obstacle in front of him was the door. A sweep of his hand took care of that, and for the second time that day Finn was sneaking down the halls of Kamino.

It was quiet, the only sound the pounding of the rain, which was just loud enough to mask his footsteps. The lights hadn't been dimmed for the night cycle, so the walls, ceiling, and floors were still the same glaring white as earlier. He could feel the presences of the clone troopers some distance away - evidently the Kaminoans hadn't wanted to bunk him near any of them for some reason.

Still, if they thought that distance alone was enough to keep him away, then they severely underestimated the capabilities of a Jedi.

His walk was undisturbed as he made his way towards the nearest clone trooper he could sense in the Force. As he got closer, he could tell that there were two of them, each bright and distinct individuals in their own right. They were on the move, likely some sort of patrol, so Finn maneuvered himself so that he would intercept their path.

Finn heard the troopers before he saw them, the steady thump of their feet similar enough to what he remembered from his days as a stormtrooper to send shivers down his spine.

Their armor wasn't what he was familiar with; he had been expecting stormtrooper armor, but this was more along the lines of a Mandalorian's beskar'gam. The blasters weren't Mandalorian make, though, more like what the First Order had used.

The clones halted as soon as they saw him, their hands falling to their blasters. He could see the moment they realized he was a Jedi, their spines straightening even further as they came to attention.

"At ease, troopers," he said, pulling the familiar aura of a commanding officer around himself. After he had recovered from the lightsaber wound from Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base, General Organa had taken him under her wing and began teaching him how to be more than just a cog in a machine, teaching him the strategy involved in fighting a war, how to be a commanding officer. Finn suspected that she was training him to be another general, but then Master Luke had asked him to if he wanted to hone his use of the Force along with Rey. He hadn't been able to keep up with her lessons once Master Luke took him as his other Padawan, but he had never forgotten them.

"Yes sir," the clone troopers said simultaneously as they relaxed and removed their helmets. Strangely enough, one of them was blond, a stark difference from the dark haired clones Finn had seen earlier.

"I hope you don't mind if I ask you some questions," Finn said with a disarming smile. "I didn't get a chance to earlier."

"Not at all, sir," the blond clone replied, glancing at the other clone out of the corner of his eyes. "What did you want to know?"

"Well, first I'd like to know your names," Finn said. "My name is Finn Dameron."

"I am designated CC-2224, sir," the brunet clone said right before the blond said "And I am CT-7567, sir."

"Do you have any names you call each other? Names you chose for yourselves?" Finn fought to keep his smile from falling off his face when he heard the clones' designations. He knew they had to have names beyond their numbers, as most of the stormtroopers of the First Order did. He had been unique in that none of his squad members had offered him a name.

Something about the way the clones held themselves changed, and tiny grins tugged at the corners of their mouths as they reintroduced themselves. "I'm Cody, and he's Rex. It's a pleasure, sir."

"Please, walk with me, Cody and Rex," Finn said, turning and gesturing in front of himself. "We need to have a talk about this army, its purpose, and your places in it."


End file.
